On 24^th February Rila National Park turns 32 years old.

In the centre of the divinely beautiful Rila Mountains lies the Rila National Park - the "green treasure" of Bulgaria. It is our largest national park, with an area of 81 046 ha, and one of the largest protected areas in Europe.

The biodiversity of the park is extremely wide and valuable. And the natural habitats are particularly characteristic, fragile and quite vulnerable.

The park is the most significant territory in our country in terms of the representation of high mountain glacial lakes and glacial lake biota.

Rila National Park is located 100 km south of the capital Sofia, in the massif of Rila-Rhodope. The forests occupy an area of 53,481.0 ha, and the high-mountain pastures and meadows span 27,565 ha. The Park includes four reserves on 20% of its territory. Between them is the largest reserve in our country "The Central Rila Reserve" (12,393.7 hectares) and the oldest reserves - "Parangalitsa" (declared in 1933). They, together with "Skakavitsa" and "Ibar" and the National Park itself, are included in the UN List of National Parks and Equivalent Reserves.

Administratively, the Park lies in 4 areas, 11 municipalities and 41 mayoral zones.

The park was declared a national park in 1992. And today, thanks to the eco-trails, thematic routes, viewpoints and attractions built by the Rila National Park Directorate, every visitor can get acquainted with its diverse landscapes: river, riverside, cliffs, moraines, waterfalls, wet rocks, wetlands, steep hard-to-reach rock draperies and peaks with snow drifts tucked in the shade, vast meadows and slow-flowing rivers through meanders. Along its routes the hiker can enjoy hundreds of views, breathtaking with their sudden beauty!

The material is provided by the Directorate of Rila National Park.